Movies Anywhere has the cream of the crop when it comes to comedy movies. Whether you’re looking for consistent laughs or a line you can steal to test out at a party, Movies Anywhere is filled to the brim with comedy movies from every decade. For Adam Sandler fans, their library includes almost every classic, but of course the most cultured of us Sandler fans know that his two signature movies — Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore — are also two of his best.
And as part of Movies Anywhere's Biggest. Offer. Ever.’ promotion for one week only (from April 6th through April 12th), you can purchase from thousands of movies and choose an eligible bonus movie*. So if you purchase Billy Madison, you can choose to get Happy Gilmore as your bonus movie, a Sandler two-fer.
Everybody who’s anybody is aware of the star comedian’s early works. Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are the pinnacles of his career — so much so that he named his production company a blend of the two: Happy Madison. These Universal Pictures films have stood the test of time through their quotable content, slam dunk characters, and heartfelt plots that will make you see the value of comedy’s emotional core. No matter if you’re a first time watcher or common connoisseur of his art, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are two timeless pieces of art. And there’s no better time to watch them back-to-back as a Sandler double feature.
With airtight scripts, both films manage to deliver lines that have maintained notoriety in pop culture discourse for over twenty years. Having that sort of power is not something that comes easy and bolstered by his work on SNL, he hit it right out of the park with the lovably goofy titular characters at the center of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
Both Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison manage to capture how well Sandler perfected characters with the time he spent writing and performing on SNL. Both films are exceptional fish out of water movies. The protagonists absolutely do not fit into the world created for them, a puzzle piece consistently jammed in the wrong place. They encounter problems incongruous to their entire personality and when faced with speed bumps, they utilize the most outrageous ideas to get out of trouble. Like a pigeon flying into an underground train station, the entire time you’re wondering how did they get in this situation and how will they possibly get out of it?
Happy Gilmore is a perfect example of belonging where you shouldn’t. After Happy’s grandma (Frances Bay) has her house taken away from her, Happy must find a solution to pay back the $270,000 she owes the IRS. After yet again failing to make his local hockey team, Happy reluctantly tests his hand at golf and finds out he’s really good at it. Plus, if he plays his cards right, he could make a lot of money in the 90 days he has to buy back his grandma’s house. Of course, one thing stands in his way: his short temper.
This is where Happy Gilmore succeeds as one of Adam Sandler’s best movies where others fall flat. Golf courses are typically very peaceful, calm places, somewhere you might imagine an old retired couple finds themselves after years of activity. Inherently, when you put an aggressive man with a bad attitude problem in a zen situation, the bomb waiting to go off creates an air of anticipation, excitement, and most importantly, comedy. As Happy gallops around the golf course, the outrageous antics heighten over the course of an hour and a half in an incredibly well paced way. It’s wholesome, hilarious, and a great movie to watch with someone who knows every line.
Similar to Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison remains one of his greatest movies of all time because it hilariously captures what grade school would be like from a mid 20s adult’s point of view. We’ve all seen this nightmare in our sleep, the feeling at some point we failed out and have to go back to school again to receive some sort of arbitrary degree. With Billy Madison, we can watch someone else take the reins as he maneuvers what K-12 would look like as an adult.
Billy Madison is a 27-year-old man child who is heir to his father’s Fortune 500 hotel chain. After losing his father’s (Darren McGavin) trust in him after crashing a dinner party with his coworkers, Billy and his father come to a compromise that involves Billy completing 12 grades in two weeks. As complications arise, Billy faces off with his father’s executive vice president Eric (Bradley Whitford) in a decathlon to see who will end up controlling Madison Hotels.
In Billy Madison, Adam Sandler perfects the lovable moron. With full range to play a spoiled brat, Sandler fully captures the college boy dropout machismo personality. The fun of the film comes from what happens when a masterful comedy writer/actor transforms an easily dislikeable person into someone you love as well as hate. Billy Madison is a masterclass on how to commit to a character to the point of getting the audience to empathize.
Over the course of three decades, Adam Sandler has managed to cement himself as a comedy legend. In part, he owes most of this to his two greatest films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. As time passes by and the weekends seem shorter, Movies Anywhere guarantees serenity where you can kick back, relax, and take a stroll down memory lane with quintessential Adam Sandler comedies. Get your two-fer here before the Movies Anywhere offer ends on April 12th. Of course, once you add these classic comedies to your Movies Anywhere collection, you can share your love for these classics with a friend by sending them a Screen Pass of both films**.
*LIMITED TIME ONLY. RESTRICTIONS APPLY. Offer expires at 11:59 PM EDT on April 12, 2021. Registration with Movies Anywhere required. Open to U.S. residents 13+. You must purchase a Movies Anywhere-eligible movie from a digital retailer that is linked to your Movies Anywhere account. For complete details, visit MoviesAnywhere.com/bonusoffer.
**Screen Pass-eligible movies are subject to change without notice.
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